


Freeing the Black Paladin

by BabyBarnOwl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gladiator Shiro, M/M, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-09 16:18:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7808680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyBarnOwl/pseuds/BabyBarnOwl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith had been born a part of Zarkon’s Empire and as a young Galra he had fulfilled his duty to become a soldier of the Empire. An honour he’d been told, but his human blood had exposed him to the darker side of the Zarkon’s rule. No one left the Empire, but with the help of the Champion he had escaped. Now Keith was determined to repay the favour and free his saviour. He’d use anyone to do it, even the new Paladins of Voltron.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>An AU where Keith is a half-human half-galra who was raised in the empire. He tries to escape to earth with Shiro but only Keith manages to escape. The person to crash land on earth is Keith. Everyone finds out that they’re the Paladins of Voltron, and their first mission is to free Shiro.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, hope you enjoy this fic.  
> Relationships will start appearing in later chapters.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Where was Keith? They had 90 seconds before all their planning went to waste.

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Shiro’s finger drummed on the cold metal of the wall, counting down the ticks until the next group of guards passed by, and all chance of escape was lost.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Had Keith failed at stealing a key from the guard station? Or had he found the task too difficult and simply given up? That didn’t sound like Keith, but he hardly knew the half-galra. They’d spoken in whispers from across his cell door, making plan for escape. Shared sympathy, and horror, at each other’s treatment at the hands of the Galra. Shiro knew it could all have been lies, but it hadn’t felt like lies.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Had Keith been caught? A chill went down his spine, that thought was far worse than the possibility that Keith had abandoned him. Betrayal to the empire meant death, and trying to free prisoners was seen as an indisputable betrayal. 

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A part of Shiro was still amazed that Keith- a Galra guard- was willing to help him escape. He knew how badly treated Keith was, he’d seen the bruises, heard the derogatory comments, but was it really bad enough for him to try and escape? To help Shiro escape?

Tap. Tap. Ta- Whirrrrrrrr.

The door open, Keith stood on the other side, purple hair standing on end, ears twitching, trying to pick up even the smallest unusual sound.  
As he spoke his eyes darted around, expecting an ambush at any moment. “It took longer than I thought, sorry. I- They wouldn't leave.”

“It’s fine, but we need to hurry,” Shiro was relieved that Keith had even turned up.

Keith nodded before darting out of the cell without looking back to see if Shiro had followed, he knew he would. They rounded the first corner to their left when Shiro’s hand, the human one, shot out, grabbing Keith.

“Wait.”

They froze as Shiro counted out the seconds until the guards would be clear of the corridor and it would be safe pass.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap

“Now.”

They moved instantly, around a corner and then another. Shiro stopped them again.

Tap. Tap.

Then they were moving again. One more corridor, one more turn to the right, and they would free. To be more precise they would be at the escape pods. The unguarded escape pods, which would only be true for today.

EEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

An alarm blared. Shiro’s heart pounded, feeling like it had jumped into his mouth, someone must have found his empty cell. Keith spun around to stare at Shiro, horror shining brightly in his eyes. 

“Run!” Shiro yelled as he sprinted forward, grabbing Keith by the arm. For half a heartbeat he feared that Keith would be paralysed with fear, but the half-galra followed as fast as he could. Keith had never been one to freeze up.

They rounded the last corner to come face to face with two Galra guards. The shock on their faces showed that they hadn’t been expecting to meet anyone, yet. Shiro moved instantly, hand glowing, he bought it down to smash the guards gun and then swung it up so his palm collided with the Galra’s skull. The guard fell sideways, knocked out cold.

He spun, stance low, to face the other guard, ready to fight. The guard was sprawled out on the floor, Keith poised above him, breathing hard. They glanced at each other before running for the escape pod door. Shouts from behind alerted them to the presence of more guards.

Keith had the key. He hurried to get the door open whilst Shiro turned to defend them. There were far more guards than he had expected, they filled the corridor, at least two lines of them, all holding blasters pointed directly at them. 

‘Like shooting fish in a barrel,’ was Shiro’s only thought before the escape pod door behind him opened and the guards began to fire.

He tried to move back, to turn and run into the escape pod, but one of the blasters grazed shoulder and another landed a direct hit on his calf, bringing him to his knees. He had turned enough to see that Keith was inside the pod, hiding from fire being the edge of the open doors. Glancing back Shiro could see the guards edging forward, still firing. He made one more lunge for the doors but a hit to his left shoulder blade knocked him back to the ground. 

Keith looked white, or as white as a purple alien could look. He stared at Shiro, looking like he was about to jump out from cover to help him. Shiro couldn’t allow that. He wasn’t going to make it, but Keith could.

“Get out of here!” Shiro yelled in his most commanding voice. Keith stopped, leg bent, about to run out. “Run, Keith.”

Hands closed around Shiro’s biceps. Glaring up at the guards who had made it to him Shiro activated his Galra arm. 

He gave one last glance back to Keith and said, “Go,” before turning to fight the guards. Behind him there was the clang of doors closing and the distinct sound of the escape pod jettisoning into space.

Shiro made a grim smile, Keith was safe, and he was sure he was going to suffer for that.


	2. Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets to Earth and is captured just like Shiro is in canon. The other Paladins help him escape. Little look at how Shiro is doing at the end.

The escape pod landed on Earth; a place Keith had never been to. He’d been able to work out its co-ordinates from what the Champion had told him about its surrounding planets. They had planned to come here together, to warn people, to fight, and for the Champion, maybe, to hide.

Keith would fight, he’d do anything to make Zarkon pay for what he’d done. His empire was full of nothing but cruelty. As a child Keith had seen young Galra’s encouraged to beat their classmates in order to make them stronger. He could never forget the time they had all gone too far. His classmate had died, beaten to death by his friends. All the adults could would say was that the boy was ‘too weak’ and that it ‘was inevitable’. The memory made Keith shiver. The image of his friend black, blue, and red. So very red, blood red. There had been so, so much blood. Just like his mother the last time he’d seen her. Keith suddenly felt sick, he wouldn’t think about that, not now. He had a mission to fulfill.

The Champion was meant to be here to tell him the next step, instead he had sacrificed himself to let Keith escape. Keith swore to himself that he wouldn’t waste this opportunity. In truth, Keith hardly knew the Champion. He’d seen him fight, like most of the soldiers he’d been amazed. The Champion had even scared some of the younger recruits, and to scare a Galra solider, well, that was impressive. The Galra thought loyalty and strength were important above all else. If Shiro had stopped resisting Zarkon so much the Galra might have come to respect him, but until then he’d nothing but an impressive prisoner, a savage, and after the failed escape attempt, Keith suppressed that thought like the image of his mother.

Keith could hear noises from outside, he wasn’t yet sure what they were, or who was making them. It was the main reason he was still inside the escape pod. He would have to leave eventually, but he would have preferred it to be in a non-hostile environment.

Gritting his teeth, Keith walked up to the door, “let’s find out who’s come to greet me.”

He opened the door and squinted out into the darkness, it seemed that he had landed on the side of the planet where it was currently night. From what little he could see the Earth appeared to be vast plains of nothing but rock. This wasn’t anything like what the Champion had described to him. He’d spoken dreamily about blue sky, strange plants, tree, and animals. Described odd looking people and odd looking buildings. It had sounded amazing. Keith felt a twinge of disappointment as he stared at Earth.

“What is that?”

Keith’s large ears twitched as he picked up a half whisper from where the earlier noise had come from. As his eyes adjusted to the dark and he began to be able to make out shapes. Blobs slowly turned into silhouettes which turned into what looked like lifeforms and vehicles. It suddenly dawned on him that he was surrounded. Wide-eyed humans- he presumed humans- stared at him in shock.

Silence ticked out until Keith remembered a story the Champion had told him about the time he’d first been captured by the Galra and what he’d said.

“I mean you no harm. I’m, err, I’m unarmed?” Keith called out. In the back of his mind he could still hear the Champions hollow laugh after he finished the story. The Champion would probably laugh now as well. Keith, technically, was armed. He had a knife hidden behind him, near his lower back, but it was only a knife, not a blaster. Keith didn’t count it as being properly armed.

In front of him three humans stepped out, walking in formation, two humans flanked one more important looking human. All three were holding weapons.  
Keith tried again, “I’m UNarrrrmed!” This time he raised his arms and opened his hands to show them that they were empty.

The humans didn’t respond. Instead they halted halfway in-between him and the rest of their race.

The one at the front of the formation spoke first, “who are you? State your intentions!” 

“My name is Keith, I-,” he floundered for a moment, unsure of what to tell them. How much did they know about the Galra Empire? Did they work for or against them? Did they even know it existed? “I’m unarmed!”

There was a long pause. The human at the forefront inclined his head backwards to speak to the others.

“What do you think?” he whispered.

“He’s very purple,” replied the one to his left. The human in front looked very unimpressed.

“I’d noticed. I meant about the situation.”

“Well… he doesn’t appear hostile and he does seem to be, well, unarmed,” the left one replied, again.

“Great advice. Anyone else want to chip in?”

“Perhaps it would be best to search him, and take him back to the temporary base whilst we search the ship?” Suggested the right human.

“An excellent suggestion,” they all turned their attention back to Keith when the middle man raised his voice, “Keep your hands raised, we are going to approach!”

Keith realised they thought he hadn’t been able to hear them. Clearly human hearing was not as acute as a Galras. 

The humans approach slowly, weapons up. They circled around him, inching closer. One of the humans began to circle behind him when, suddenly, he started shouting.

“He’s armed! He lied! He’s armed!”

Keith spun to face the human, teeth bared in annoyance. Before he could speak in his own defence a sharp pain exploded in the back of his head and everything went black.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Keith woke up he was strapped to a table in a white room covered in crisscrossed metal panels. Humans in strange, white, bulky bodysuits surrounded him. They were muttering to each other whilst staring at some kind of primitive, electrical, measuring device.

“What is he?”

“These readings are off the charts.”

As Keith’s consciousness began to resurface he stared to struggle against his restraints. 

“What are you doing? Why have you tied me up?” No one responded, they all continued with their work, pretending to be oblivious to him. “Hey! I’m talking to you! I’m not the one you should have tied up! There are others who’ll be following me. They’re hostile! They’ll be properly armed! I came here to find Voltron. Listen to me, Voltron, we have to find Voltron. One of your own was meant to be with me, they took him from Kerberos!”

His rant was met with silence, no one would listen. The more he said the more they seemed to switch off. He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there ranting. Nothing changed until the doors at the far end of the room opened and three more bulky bodysuits entered.

“Yes, very interesting, now you all need to leave!” One of the newly entered bodysuits said loudly. Everyone in the room turned to look at him.

“Uh- why?” Asked one of the humans standing over Keith.

“Because…you know, higher up orders and all that. You just have to leave.” The humans in the room all looked at each other, no one moved.

One of the other new humans, this one looking like they were wearing a suit far too big for them, spoke “Professor Montgomery gave the orders; we didn’t ask why.”

“Oh,” said another human near Keith, “well why didn’t you say so? That guys always such a dick about explaining things.” 

One by one the humans filed out of the room, each grumbling about something or someone being unreasonable, until the three new ones were the only ones left.

“I can’t believe that worked,” said the big one that had yet to speak.

“I know right! Pidge you’re a genius with ideas,” the other, non-small one said.

“Thanks, but now we have a different problem to deal with, how are we going to get him out?” The one called Pidge asked.

“Umm, excuse me?” Keith interjected, they all turned to look at him. “If you untie me I can get myself out of here, but, uh, thanks for your help.”

A stunned silence followed, broken by “you can talk?!”

“Yes, of course I can talk… who are you anyway?” Keith asked, wondering why they would save when they seemed to know nothing about him.

“The names Lance,” said one of them whilst taking off his helmet.

“Hunk,” the other big one answered before copying the other human and taking his helmet off.

“Pidge, Pidge Gunderson,” the little one added in, also taking their helmet off.

“I’m Keith.”

“Keith? What kind of alien name is Keith?” Lance grumbled.

“Uh, my name?”

“You should have a cool alien name, like, like Glooobozek or Yugreeee, or Hawkon the executor.” The big one named Hunk ignored Lance and went up to the table Keith was strapped to.

“How do I get him to stop making those noises?” Keith asked making a disgusted face.

“You don’t, you’ll get used to it,” Hunk said as he removed the straps holding Keith down.

“I really hope I don’t,” Keith muttered sitting up as his restraints were removed. The little one edged forward, eyes wide as if evaluating Keith.

“So what’s the plan for getting out of here?” asked Pidge.

“Whilst we still have the element of surprise we attack.”

What? No! No, no, no. Bad plan, not doing that,” Lance said immediately.

Keith glared at him, “why not?”

“We are not attacking our teachers!”

“Teach- who are you people? Why are you rescuing me?”

“Good question,” muttered Hunk.

“They weren’t listening to you and-,” Lance started.

“Kerberos!” Pidge yelled, “We saw the security feed, you talked about Kerberos. You said someone was taken from Kerberos and they were meant to be with you. Who were they? Are they okay? Did they mention any others?”

Keith looked at each of them cautiously before speaking.

“A human was meant to be with me, but… things didn’t go as planned. I didn’t know him well, but at one point he did mention that others were captured with him, I never met them.”

“Guys, can we save this for later? We really need to get out of here before anyone comes back,” Hunk interrupted. Pidge looked down but nodded in agreement.

“Right, follow me,” Keith said, picking up his knife from the table where one of the humans had left it. He then headed towards the door.

“Wait! Stop right there! You better not be planning to attack anyone,” lance called after him.

Keith kept walking. However, before he reached the door it suddenly opened. Standing in the doorway was what looked like two guards.

“Alright, what’s going on here?” One of the guards asked. Keith punched him in the face. He crumpled to the floor. Before the second guard could react Keith punched him in the stomach and grabbed his hair. He then smashed the man’s head into one of the metal panels on the wall.

“Come on,” Keith call out to the three behind him.

“Oh no, oh no, we are so screwed. This was a bad plan.”

“Calm down Hunk,” Pidge said nervously.

“He punched Professor Montgomery!” Hunk yelled as the other two went after Keith.

“Keep your voice down,” Keith hissed as he walked down the corridor, knife in hand.

“Put that away,” Lance hissed back, jabbing a finger at the knife. Keith looked back to glare at him.

“You can punch Professor Montgomery as much as you like, he definitely deserves it, but you can’t stab anyone!”

Keith stared at him a moment longer and then begrudgingly put the knife back in its sheath. He would accept that compromise, he could attack but not kill anyone.

They stopped near the entrance of the quickly erect white structure that they were in. A woman stood with her back to them, no-one else was in sight.

“Now what?” whispered Pidge.

“I could seduce her,” Lance said, looking like he was really contemplating how to do it. Keith rolled his eyes and snuck forward. When he was within an arm’s reach of her he grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth with his hand, and dragged her backwards into the tent. She kicked out and tried to yell.

“Big man help me hold her,” Keith hissed.

“What? No!” Instead Lance rushed forward and tried to grab her legs, but only managed to get kicked in the face.

“Ow! Hunk just help him!” Lance snapped as he cradled his face. Hunk looked distraught as he turned from the woman to Lance and then back again.

“I am so sorry,” he said, grabbing her legs. Keith was about to knock her out using the same method he’s used on the second guard when the small human, Pidge, stopped him.

“Wait!” the little one said, holding out some electrical cords, “we could tie her up instead.”

“Yes!” Hunk said quickly, “that’s a much better idea.”

“Alright, be quick,” Keith grunted.

Pidge tried to tie the woman up but she struggled too much for one person to handle so Lance stepped forward to help. Before Keith let go of the woman Pidge shoved some kind of fabric in her mouth so she couldn’t speak. They then hid her out of sight of the entrance and moved on with their escape by sneaking up to the mouth of the structure. Lance stuck his head out to have a look around.

“Okay, there’s way too many people out there to fight them all,” he said staring directly at Keith, who decided to have a glance outside to see for himself.

“Unfortunately he’s right,” Keith muttered. There were a few humans out there but if the number of vehicles present was any indication then there were a lot more than they could see, and if any one of them managed to raise a shout they would be surrounded. If one of them had the same fighting ability as the Champion, there was no way they could escape.

“Looks like our only option is to give up. Surrender, accept out punishment. Sure we’ll get kicked out of the Garrison, and maybe even arrested,” Hunk rambled, shoulders sinking, looking more depressed as he went on, “interrogated and probably sent to jail for the rest of our lives.”

“Or we could make a run for it,” Lance suggested, everyone turned to look at him, “I mean we could sneak behind those cars when no one is looking and then run for those rocks over there. If we manage to get behind them they won’t be able to see us, and its night so we could try to run off into the desert.”

“Anyone got a better plan?” Keith asked. His reply was silence. “Okay, running into the desert it is.”

Lance grinned at him, “I am the plan master!”

Keith snorted and gave him a half smile. Lance grinned back before turning serious and sticking his head out of the tent again for another look around.

“On my signal everyone run for the car,” Lance whispered, raising his hand in a stop signal. Everyone got into position and waited, looking at Lance.

“Now!” Lance said, bringing his hand down to point at the car. Everyone ran.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fortunately, the plan had worked, unfortunately, the plan had worked and now they were wandering around the desert. They had been walking around aimlessly for hours now, and everyone was tired. The only good thing to happen since they had escaped was that Hunk had finally stopped ranting about what a bad idea this had all been.

“Any good ideas now plan master?” Keith said irritably. They had been out here so long the sun had risen, and Keith was covered in fur, which made the heat unbearable.

“Hey! I didn’t hear you coming up with any better plans!” Lance yelled.

“If you hadn’t put restrictions on actions I would have been able to think of something,” Keith shot back.

“Murder is not a better plan!” Lance yelled louder.

“I second that,” Hunk interjected, raising his hand in support.

“Guys, stop it, we really need to think of a plan. We can’t keep wandering around aimlessly,” Pidge tried to reason with them.

“Yeah! We’ll die!”

“Hunk, we won’t die,” Lance reassured. Keith suddenly stopped, a strange energy washing over him. It felt like it was tugging at him, urging him forward.

“Uh? Keith?” Keith didn’t reply, and Lance looked at him with worry, “Hunk’s just being Hunk, we definitely won’t die.”

“Be quiet, don’t you feel that?” Keith snapped. The look of worry disappeared from Lance’s face and was replaced with annoyance.

“No I don’t,” he muttered.

Keith started walking again, ignoring Lance. The strange feeling started to get weaker making Keith take a sharp turn to his left. The feeling kept fading so Keith spun around and started walking faster. This time the feeling got stronger.

“This way,” Keith said with conviction.

“Oh so now you’re the plan master?” Lance asked sarcastically with a grin on his face.

“Yes,” Keith replied, Lance’s grin fell into another look of annoyance.

“Stupid, weird, purple alien,” he muttered before following Keith. The other two follow after Lance.

Keith walked about using trial and error to decide their course. When the strange pulling feeling began to fade he would turn one way and if it continued to fade he would turn a different way. Lance and Pidge watched him in a strange bored fascination, Hunk just looked very worried.

Keith stopped when he reached the entrance to a cave.

“It’s in here.”

“What’s in there?” Hunk asked, looking more worried than before.

Walking in, Keith said, “I’m not sure.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go in then?” Hunk suggested. Lance and Pidge walked past him into the cave.

“At least it’s out of the sun,” Pidge said trying to reassure Hunk, who unhappily followed them in. Once inside Hunks face suddenly lit up.

“Whoa.”

“Yeah, whoa,” Lance whistled, “these are some amazing paintings.”

The cave walls were covered in paintings depicting people and lions. No one was sure what they meant was they looked amazing. Lance stretched out his hand to touch one of them. As he wiped away some of the dirt covering the picture all the paintings suddenly lit up, shinning blue.

The ground beneath them started to glow a strange bright blue and began to cracking before completely disappearing.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

They all screamed as they slid down a tunnel filled with water. At the bottom they all landed in a shallow pond. Groaning they looked up and were met with the sight of a giant, blue, metal, lion. Getting up they moved next to each other and stared in awe at the massive cat.

“Is this it? Is this the Voltron?” Pidge asked.

“This is what’s been causing all this crazy energy out here,” Keith said before walking forward to the giant blue lion. 

“Looks like there’s a force field around it,” he called back before everyone else started walking towards the lion.

“Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?” Lance asked as swayed around whilst walking. “Yeah the eyes are totally following me.”

“I wonder how we get through this,” Keith said upon reaching the forceful surrounding the lion.

“Maybe you just have to knock,” Lance suggested before knocking. The force field disappeared and inside their minds everyone suddenly got a vision of Voltron forming. Something felt wrong about the image, as if something where missing.

‘This is it,’ thought Keith, ‘this is how I’ll fight Zarkon.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shiro gasped, head dizzy, as the sight of the real world returned to him. He had just had a vision of strange metal lions and a giant robot. He wondered if one of the blows to the head he’d received when the guards had beaten him for his failed escape attempt had done some permanent damage. Once the guards had managed to take him down they had beaten him more than they’d needed to in order to keep him subdued, but in the end he’d still given out more punishment than he got. After that they had dragged him back to his cell, and left him there without any medical treatment. Later, Shiro wasn’t sure how long after, a group of them had come back for him, and beaten him again. They had been careful not to make the wounds too obvious, and it seemed like they knew what they were doing and had done it before. They made sure most of what they had done couldn’t be seen, not broken limbs, and they tried to avoid his face. The rest was covered by his prison grade bodysuit.

Now Shiro was standing in one of the tunnels that led to the gladiator arena. He’d had no medical attention since his escape attempt and they were sending him in to fight a creature twice his size. Shiro guessed that it was more entertaining to let one of the gladiators kill him, and get a new Champion, than to simply dispose of him. Shiro tried experimentally to put weight on his right leg, the one the blaster had hit. Pain shot through his leg and every muscle in his body tense with effort as he tried not to cry out.

Inside the arena his opponent was smashing pillars, making a show of strength, as the crowd cheered. A part of him had always thought he would die in the arena and today could be the day, but he didn’t want to die, so he would fight, even if it was pointless and inevitable, he would do everything he could to survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the support :D  
> I'm glad you're all enjoying this so much <3
> 
> Next chapter we meet Allura and Coran.  
> Plus we finally get to planning Shiro's escape!


	3. Choosing Paladins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting from Allura's POV, the Paladins have arrived at the castle of lions.

“Father!” 

Allura fell out of the sleep pod and into the arms of an unknown creature. She looked up, for a moment thinking that she was looking into the face of an unknown Altean, possible a new servant. 

“Hellllo,” the strange man said, making an even stranger face.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Allura asked, turning away from to look at her surroundings.

“I’m Lance, and you’re lying here in my arms.” 

Allura turned back to the self-proclaimed Lance. As she looked closer the man’s strange features stood out to her.

“Your ears.”

“Yeah?”

“They’re hideous, what’s wrong with them?”

“Nothing’s wrong with them! They heard exactly what you said about them!” In reaction to Lances sudden hostility Allura grabbed him, forcing him into a subduing hold.

“Who are you? Where is king-,” Allura suddenly stopped, she had looked up at the other intruders into her castle. Among them was a Galra. Fury welling up in her chest, she let go of Lance and turned to address her enemy.

“You! How dare you! How did you get in here?” Everyone glanced between her and the Galra, who appeared startled.

“I- we came here on a blue lion; I believe it’s a part of Voltron.”

Anger rising Allura curled her hands into fists, preparing to interrogate the Galra.

“How did you get the blue lion? Do the Galra have the rest of Voltron? What happened to its Paladins? Answer me!” She asked, voice mounting to a yell as she spoke.

“No,” the Galra snapped back, becoming defensive, “the Galra don’t have Voltron. I don’t know anything about any Paladins. We’re not with the Galra.”

“You are a Galra,” She hissed.

“Half-Galra,” he corrected, drawing backward, “I’m not a part of Zarkons empire, not anymore.”

“Empire? I- how long have I been asleep for?” Allura asked, thrown off by the new Information. She needed to know more. Eyes never leaving the Galra, she rushed forward to the control panel in the centre of the room. As she placed her hands on the activation pads the screen lit up.

“Well that’s how that works,” the smallest intruder commented, “uh, hi, Pidge.” 

At the same time the other sleep pod began to deactivate, waking up Coran. He gave a gasp as he looked sideways to see Lance.

“Uh, enemy combatants!” he cried before jumping out of the pod and attempting to kick Lance, who easily dodged. “Uah! Uh, quiznak! You’re lucky-.”

“Coran, now is not the time! We have a Galra in the castle!”

“What, where? When I find him I’ll give him a good,” Coran made multiple jabbing motions into the air.

“I’m right here,” the Galra said, looking annoyed.

“Uah!” Coran jumped back in surprise, “careful princess, he managed to sneak into the room while we were talking!”

“It can’t be!” Allura gasped.

“I know, he’s a sneaky one,” Coran replied, not realising that she wasn’t paying attention to him.

“We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years!” For a moment Allura had a flashback to the last time she had seen her father, “Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, father is gone, our entire civilisation…,”

Allura suddenly turned to the Galra, “your people did this. You say Zarkon is still alive, tell us what you know of his intentions.”

The creature who had caught Allura when she’d fallen out of the sleeping chamber stepped in-between herself and the Galra.

“Hey, wait, hold up. I don’t really get what’s going on here, but Keith didn’t have anything to do with this… did you Keith?” Lance asked glancing at the Galra, Keith.

“No.”

“Right, Keith hasn’t hurt your people. He might be weird, grumpy, purple, and slightly homicidal, but he’s no mass murderer.” 

“And how do I know you don’t work for Zarkon as well?”

“Wha? Me? How dare you! I’m not even purple!” Lance cried back, looking genuinely offended.

“You’re certainly not Altean,” Allura replied, eyes narrowing.

“Why are humans so obsessed with how purple I am?” Keith muttered.

“Guys, calm down a sec. Princess, I’m Hunk, nice to meet you, but we have no idea what you’re on about. We’ve had a really weird day. Got chewed out by our instructor, snuck out of the Garrison to rescue a purple alien, found a giant blue lion robot, flew in the robot into space, got attacked by other aliens whilst in the giant blue lion robot, fought and ran away from the aliens, then rode the giant blue robot to an alien planet, and met a ten-thousand-year-old princess. So I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. Can we just tone down the accusation a bit and get some explanations, like what is Voltron?”

“You were attacked?” Allura asked a little taken aback.

“By the Galra,” Keith explained.

“Oh… Voltron is a weapon my father developed to protect the universe, nothing matches its power. That’s why Zarkon is looking for it, and why we must do everything in our power to keep it out of his hands. Voltron is formed when the five lion that make it up are united. Each lion has its own Paladin to pilot it.”

Allura didn’t give away any information the Galra was unlikely to not know.

“I see, so uh, where are the lions Paladins?” Hunk asked.

“Gone,” She said sadly.

“Oh, uh, sorry.”

“It is alright,” Allura said brightening up slightly as she got an idea, “we may have some new Paladins with us now.”

“What?” Hunk said as everyone but Allura glanced at each other nervously.

“Yes! Voltron needs new Paladins and the blue lion seems to have taken a liking to you, Lance.”

“Well no surprise there, the ladies love me.”

“What are you on about?” Keith asked.

“Ladies, it’s a female lion, so she’s a lady,” Lance replied, looking annoyed that he had to explain himself.

“How do you know what gender it is? Don’t go deciding weird things like that on your own. It doesn’t even belong to you.”

“I think you mean she doesn’t belong to me, and I’m not making it up, she’s got no mane so she must be female. Male lions have manes; everyone know that Keith.” Keith glared back at him but didn’t say anything.

“Well now that that’s cleared up I feel I should mention that there’s only four of us and five lions, who’s going to pilot the last one?” Hunk said, getting to conversation back on tract. Allura smiled, she had no intention of letting Keith pilot any of the lions and without the fifth pilot Voltron could not be formed.

“We will have to find another pilot, Coran and I cannot pilot the black lion. We need a natural born leader, someone who you would all follow without question.”

Suddenly, Keith spoke, there was a strange glint in his eye, he looked determined, “there’s only one person I’d follow right now. He’s a natural leader and one of the best fighters in the universe.” 

“Who?” Allura asked, cautious of the answer.

“The Champion,” Keith stated proudly, everyone stared at him blankly.

“Who’s the Champion?” Pidge asked. Keith frowned, feeling offended for the Champion.

“He’s the human I was meant to come to earth with. The best fighter in the arena.”

“The Champion…who- what’s his name?” Pidge asked.

“I don’t know; he was only ever referred to as Champion. He’s big and muscly by human standards. Has black and white hair, excellent jawline?”

“That… sounds like Shiro, Shirogane Takashi, but I don’t remember him having white hair,” Pidge murmured, arms crossed, thinking hard.

“I think it might have been completely black the first time I saw him.”

“Wait, Shiro? You’re talking about THE Shiro? The guys a legend! I’d follow him anywhere!” Lance interjected looking exited. 

“Would the rest of you follow this Shiro?” Allura asked, taking a moment to look at each of them individually.

“Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean the guy is pretty amazing,” Hunk answered.

“My family did so I’d trust him.”

“Excellent, so it’s decided,” Allura said happily, “where can we find this man?”

This would be a good way to figure out the Galra’s true intentions.

“Currently, where the latest gladiator fights are being held, he’s a prisoner of Zarkon.”

“A prisoner of Zarkon?” Allura asked, surprised. She hoped he did not intend to lead them into a trap in the heart of Zarkon’s empire.

“How could they do that to a guy like Shiro? We have to get him out!” Lance yelled. Keith gave Lance a warm, grateful smile. Allura began to wonder if they were closer than they were letting on.

“That sounds a little dangerous,” Hunk said cautiously. Keith’s smile disappeared and he glared at Hunk.

“Living there is far more dangerous. He helped me escape, you don’t want to imagine the kind of things they’ll do to him for that,” Keith spat out, ears pinned back in anger.

“As much as I hate to say it, I’m with Keith on this one. We have to save him,” Lance said going to stand next to Keith, “Pidge, you in?”

“Yeah, we need to rescue Shiro.”

“Hey, guys, I wasn’t saying we shouldn’t rescue Shiro, but we need to be smart, and careful about this,” Hunk added.

“I suppose it’s settled then, but first we have a lot of planning to do,” Allura said. She felt wary about the whole situation, but refused to let it show.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Shiro woke up standing in an open healing chamber. He presumed it had just finished healing him, but he didn’t remember getting into it. The last thing he remembered was standing outside the arena, waiting for his gladiator match to start. This wasn’t the first time he had woken with a gap in his memory. The first time was when he had been forced to fight the prisoner in the cell across from him. A big guy, best fighter of his village, according to himself. He was from a race who knew nothing about the Galra empire, or anything alien. His people thought the moon had made their planet because it was lonely. Shiro wasn’t sure exactly what had happened to the man, all he knew was that they both entered the arena and only Shiro had returned. He couldn’t, didn’t want to, remember anything else.

A druid stood before him, one he had seen a few times before when he needed healing, he was a fairly friendly one.

“Welcome back, we almost lost you. Not quite as close as when you lost your arm, but still close,” the druid said, a smile plastered onto his face.

“I won?” Shiro asked numbly. The druid was aware that he didn’t always remember, the Galra thought it was due to Shiro suffering from overwhelming bloodlust in the arena.

“Oh yes, a spectacular last minute turn around, she had her sword lodged in your chest and-.” Shiro tuned him out, he didn’t want to know the details. Instead, he experimented with his limb movements. He found he could move them normally and he had no new prosthetics, although he had some new scars, and a particularly gruesome one on his chest, terrifyingly close to his heart. He tried to take an experimental step forward.

“Ah! Ah, ah. Champion, you know the rules, no stepping out of that pod till your escort arrives and you’ve got some shiny new handcuffs on.”

Shiro put his raised foot back inside the pod.

“They might be a while though; higher ups are trying to deal with all the allegation of cheating. I’m going to be interviewed later! What a waste of time!”

“Cheating?”

“Mmm? Oh, well, you were performing very badly, Champion. Very, very, badly,” the druid gave him a long disappointed look before continuing, “everyone noticed. People have been claiming that the guards must have beaten you to make sure you’d lose. A lot of them bet against you. Now the betting houses are demanding an investigation, which they got,” the druid sighed, “it’s such a waste of time, you won either way, but lower lifeforms get uppity when money is involved.”  
Shiro stared in disbelief. He had assumed no one demanded anything in Zarkon’s empire, with the exception of Zarkon. 

“Zarkon allowed an investigation?”

“What?” The druid suddenly started cackling, “Zarkon? They wouldn’t take something like this is Zarkon! They allowed the investigation because one of the generals regularly bets on you, he doesn’t want to start losing money!”

Shiro stared down at his hands wondering if that was why they kept him alive, money. The druid peered at him sympathetically.

“Don’t look so glum, it’s not like Zarkon hasn’t noticed your existence, but he’s got an empire to run. People can’t take every problem to him.”

Shiro suddenly let out a hollow laugh, the druid though he mood was because he hadn’t been noticed by Zarkon.

The door opened and a guard entered flanked by four sentries.

“We’re here for the Champion.”

“That was fast, well he’s all ready for you,” the druid waved his hand towards Shiro as he spoke. The guard grunted in response.

“Yeah, Sendak couldn’t be bothered with an actual investigation so he executed a bunch of guards as an example and said not to do it again,” the guard turned to address Shiro, “for a while it’s going to be just me, you, and a lot of sentries,” he said, pointing a thumb back towards the robots behind him.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Princess,” called Coran. The new Paladins had left the ship along with the Galra, they were going to try and find the green and yellow lions.

“Yes?” Allura answered, she was standing at the control panels for the ship, testing out its defences.

“Why didn’t you choose to pilot the black lion?” he asked. Allura stopped and turned to face him.

“The Galra, Keith, I don’t trust him enough to go into battle with him. I might pilot her when all the lions are assembled and we have enough Paladins, until then it is safer to stay here, with the black lion, to make sure Voltron can’t be formed by anyone else.”

“If you don’t trust them, why send them after the lions?”

“We need to form Voltron as soon as possible; any delay could be catastrophic.”

“If Shiro’s rescue mission goes well we might be able to form Voltron very soon,” Coran mused, looking at Allura cautiously. She gave him a puzzled look.

“What do you mean? Do you think he would suit one of the other lions?”

“Princess, I meant that perhaps this Keith isn’t our enemy. You must remember that some of the people worst oppressed by Zarkon are the Galra themselves.”

For a moment neither of them spoke.

“We will soon find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the chapter :D  
> Klance will be in the chapters to come, I promise!


	4. Escape Attempts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone tries to rescue Shiro, but things don't go as planned!
> 
> I'm using female pronouns for Pidge because she states in the show that she is a girl.

“Finally, we’re back,” Lance grumbled from inside his blue lion’s cockpit. 

“What’s got him so grumpy?” Pidge asked, piloting the newly acquired green lion.

“He’s sharing with Keith,” answered Hunk from the yellow lion. Keith, the only one of them still without a lion, had ended up spending the flight back in Lance’s lion. After an hour of bickering they had fallen into sullen silence.

The castle of lions came into sight and cheering Lance up slightly. Soon he could get away from the infuriating alien that managed to make him go from wanting to kiss him to wanting to punch him in less than a second.

The lions re-entered the castle, landing in the hanger. All three of them opened their mouths to let the paladins out. Keith stalked out first, Lance begrudgingly followed. Outside Allura was waiting for them. 

“Welcome back Paladins,” she smiled, eyes landing on Keith, “Keith, you look… different.”

“Different? Different how?” Keith asked. Lance strutted up to him and leaned forward to stare directly into his face. Keith stiffened up, a blush dusting across his face at their close quarters.

“Yeah, she’s right. You’re not hideous anymore, I’d say you’re closer too ugly now.”

The blush disappeared and Keith shoved Lance away from himself.

“Look who’s talking,” he deadpanned. Pidge, who had just left their lion, smacked Lance on the arm and turned to Keith.

“Allura’s right, you do look different. More, I dunno, human?” 

Keith’s eyebrows shot up, “human?” Pidge nodded.

“Yeah, I know it sounds weird but you do.”

“I-I am half-human… but I’ve never looked human,” he replied slowly.

“Seriously? You’re half-human?” Pidge asked. Keith had said that he was half-galra but he’d never before stated what his other half was.

“Perhaps you have some kind of ability to change your appearance. Why not try?” Allura prompted. A spark of interest twinkled in her eyes.

“I wouldn’t even know how.”

“Alteans have the ability to change our appearance, if we wish to do so we only need to concentrate on how we wish to look.”

Keith furrowed his brow and closed his eyes. They all waited, looking intently at him. For a while nothing happened. Then Keith’s fur started to recede. It was strange to watch. His hair turned black and patches of pink skin became visible.

“Oh, oh wow,” whispered Lance. Keith opened his eyes.

“How do I look?” he asked. ‘Oh no he’s hot’ Lance thought.

Instead he said, “You have a mullet.” Keith glared at him, lance liked that look.

“I don’t know what that is.”

“It’s ridiculous is what it is!” Lance yelled, cheeks burning. Pidge glanced between them and made an ‘ooh’ noise. 

“Lance, buddy, you okay?” Hunk asked. Lance turned to him and pointed an accusing finger at Keith.  
“No! He looks stupid! This is unfair!”

“How is this unfair?!” Keith snapped back.

“Stop this!” Allura commanded, angry. Lance dropped his finger and pouted, refusing to look at Keith.

“We have more important things to discuss. Whilst you were away Coran and I were devising a plan on how to rescue Shiro.” Lance looked up, suddenly attentive, his annoyance over Keith forgotten.

“Yes! Are going in all *blam* *blam*, ‘Shiro we’re here to rescue you!’ And he’ll be ‘Oh Lance I’m so impressed, you’re the best pilot I’ve ever met’.”

“No,” Allura said after a brief pause, “This will be more of an undercover mission, with some possible blasting at the end.”

“Cool, cool, secret agent style, I like it.” Lance wiggled an eyebrow at her. She ignored it.

“I’ve done some research on the gladiator fights, it hasn’t changed much since Coran and I went to sleep, although it has gotten a lot more popular. Getting him while he locked in his cell is too risky without Voltron. So the plan is to sneak in as spectators and grab him right before his match starts. He’ll be unchained and have access to a weapon. We’ll take out the power before we rescue him, a sudden blackout will cause chaos.”

“Sounds like a plan, but what are our disguises,” Lance asked, half joking.

“Coran, Pidge, and I will pose as a family going on an outing to see a match. You, Keith and Hunk will be there in the hopes of making some money from the betting stations. Your real job will be to get Shiro, we’ll take care of the power.”

“Wait, I’m with Keith?”

“Yes, now that he can alter his appearance you can all sneak in undetected. We’ve prepared disguises for everyone, although Keith might not need his anymore.”

As if on cue Coran walked in holding armfuls of clothing. Knowing Coran, he had probably been outside waiting for the right moment to enter. He handed out outfits to each of them individually. Hunk, and Lances were slightly ragged tops and trousers in varying shades of their respective colours. Keith’s was similar but his top looked like the alien version of a hoodie. He also had a bandanna that he tied around his face. 

‘Not suspicious at all,’ Lance mocked in his head.

Allura, Pidge, and Coran’s clothes were all better kept and a lot more flowery. Pidge made a disgusted face when handed the clothes but wore them anyway. 

“We need to leave immediately, we have just enough time to reach the planet before Shiro’s next match starts,” Allura stated once they were all ready.

“But we won’t be taking the lions, follow me, we’ve got some little ships in the next hanger. Be careful with them, they’re like my babies, because I made them, so they’re my babies,” Coran added, babbling.

Everyone followed Coran into the next hanger. Two small ships had been prepared. Hunk, Lance, and Keith climbed into one whilst Allura, Pidge, and Coran got into the other. 

Coran settled into the pilot seat of his vessel whilst Lance jumped into the corresponding seat of the other ship.

“Right, let’s see, how do we start this,” Lance muttered to himself. He started pressing random buttons. Nothing happened.

“Get out the seat, I’ll pilot,” Keith said with a sigh.

“What? No, I can do this.” Keith looked at him skeptically.

“Do you know to fly this thing? It’s isn’t going tell you how to do it, like the lion.”

“Hey! I don’t need a lion to tell me how to fly. I was a fighter class pilot!”

“Congratulations, now get out of the seat so someone who actually knows how to fly can pilot this thing.”

“Make me!”

“Alright,” Keith replied. Lance looked bewildered, he hadn’t been expecting that response. Keith leaned forward and grabbed Lance.

“What are you-,” he lifted Lance up into the air.

“Stop! Stop! You can pilot the ship!” Lance shrieked as Keith cradled him.

“Good,” Keith said, dropping him onto the floor. He then slid into the chair and turned the ship on. Hunk decided it was best not to comment on what had just happened so he strapped himself into a chair and stared out the window. Lanced follow his lead.

They set off to the arena in silence.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We’re almost there,” Coran said. Pidge leaned forward, plastering her face to the shuttle window in hopes of getting a better look at their destination. They were heading towards a huge spaceship suspended in orbit above a large, red planet. Around them a multitude of ships were heading for the same destination. Keith, Hunk, and Lances ship was little behind them. They all headed towards a large hole in the side of the Galra ship and landed in what looked like the space version of a parking lot.

“We’re here,” Coran sang exiting first.

“This way, stay close,” he added as the crowd pushed in around them. Aliens chatted happily as they headed further inside. Pidge caught snippet of their conversations.

“I hope this fight is better than the last one,” a scaly alien to her left said to his green friend.

“I’m betting on the Champion; you’d have to be stupid not to,” an old lady with tusks said sagely to what looked like her husband.

“Go! Champion!” a little boy called out, waving a toy figurine with black and white hair above his head.

Pidge could see Hunk, Lance, and Keith. They had somehow managed to get in front of them, Keith and Lance were still bickering. Everyone lined up at the entrance to buy tickets for the match.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside was more packed than outside. Kieth, Hunk, and Lance squeezed through the throngs of aliens, looking for a more secluded area where they could talk. They moved together, Lance in front. He spotted a sign, which he couldn’t read, but there was an image of what looked like a happy alien with money. He decided that was likely to where the betting stations where, and changed their course towards it. It was situated near the end of the seats, next to where the arena began.

“So how are we going to get close to Shiro?” Hunk whispered, looking at Keith, who was the only person who had been here before. Keith, scanned the area until he saw what he was looking for.

“There,” he said pointing at a corridor with two guards outside, “if we can get past them we should be able to get to Shiro undetected. Once the lights are down we can take out his guards and bring him back with us.”

Hunk nodded, “right, but how do we get past them?”

“We can’t attack them in the open,” Lance said with a pointed glare at Keith, who glared back before replying.

“For now let’s just get closer.”

The three of them wandered closer, trying not to look suspicious, and waited.

“Don’t move! Oi! A little help in here!” an unknown voice called. The corridors guards went running, and the boys instantly took the opportunity, running into the passage. They walked down until the reach a bend. Keith peered around the corner and saw Shiro, flanked by four sentries.

“He’s around the corner, surrounded by guards,” Keith whispered.

“Okay, now we just wait for the lights to go out,” Lance said, so they waited.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Whilst the boys had been finding Shiro the others were executing the other half of the plan.

“Okay, Pidge,” Allura bent down to whisper to the green paladin, “we’re going to need to cut the power to the arena. In order to do that you need to get into one of the control rooms. Coran can get you as far as one of the corridors but from there you’re going to have to sneak in through the vents on your own.”

“Got it, but how are we getting into the corridor?”

Coran stepped forward and placed a hand on Pidges shoulder.

“Leave that to me,” he cleared his voice and took a deep breath, “Out of the way! Sick child! Move if you don’t want sick on you!”

The people around them parted as quickly as they could and Coran steered them towards a passageway with some guards. Before they reached the men Coran yelled again.

“Hold on, don’t die on me! Oh look how sick she is!” As they reached the guards one of them stepped forward and raised his hand in a halt sign.

“She’s dying! Look how sick she is! We need a doctor!” Coran yelled. The guards glanced at each other and stepped back. Pidge and Coran rushed into the corridor and darted around the corner, out of sight of the guards.

“There should be ventilation panel around here,” Coran muttered as he looked around, “ah! There!” He pointed at a small opening at the top of the far wall, halfway down the corridor.

“Right, up you go!” he said as he bent down for Pidge to climb on top of him. She climbed onto his shoulders and he stood up so she was the right height to climb into the shaft.

“How will I know which room is the right one?” she asked as she hoisted herself into the opening.

“It should be two lefts then a right, massive screen in one the wall, can’t miss it.”

Pidge crawled along the tunnel, barely able to see. The only light came from the occasional grated opening that she passed. One left, two lefts, then a right. She stopped at the next opening he could find. The room below her way empty, a screen covered the entirety of the wall to her right. This was the place Coran had meant.

Pidge used her bayard to cut the panel open. The metal clanged to the floor and she followed it, landing softly. She glanced around the room, still empty. Crouching low, she snuck up to the control panel. 

“What are you doing in here?”

Pidge whipped around, in the doorway was a guard. He had his gun pointed directly at her.

“Don’t move! Oi! A little help in here!”

There was the sound of feet thudding closer and then two more guards appeared. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What’s taking so long?” Keith muttered as he leaned against the wall.

“Calm down, they’ll get it done.”

“The lights need to go out before the Champion enters the arena,” Keith put emphasis on the word before.

“I know.”

“The match is about to start.”

“I know!”

As Keith and Lance bickered a voice rang out over the arena.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of all races, welcome! The moment you’ve all been waiting for is about to start!”

“We can’t wait anymore; I’m going to get him,” Keith said, eyes never leaving Shiro. He set off towards him.

“What?! That’s a terrible idea!” Lance called after him, but Keith ignored him, “Keith get back here! Keith!”

Keith pulled his knife out of his belt and dived at the sentries. He slashed at the closest robot’s throat but missed by half an inch. A look of surprise crossed his face as the sentry surged forward a slammed its gun into Keith’s face. Then he was surrounded by four on them and on the floor. They overpowered him, pinning him into the ground. His face was pushed hard against the cold metal floor. The commotion had bought the attention of a single guard. He stood above him and gave commands.

“Take him to a cell.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lance and Hunk had seen Keith being taken down. Lance had wanted to go after him, to save him, but Hunk had stopped him. Lance knew logically that they couldn’t have helped him once the extra guards had turned up. Shiro would have been unable to help, as soon as Keith had jumped out one of the sentries had take out a cattle prod looking object and electrocuted him, nearly making him pass out. Being unable to save Keith they'd had no choice but to retreat. 

They decided it was best to inform Allura. Lance hoped she would be able to think of a new plan to get them all out. The guards had still not returned so they were able to leave the corridor without arousing suspicion. The search around for the other, it didn’t take them long to locate them in the seating area. Allura spotted coming towards them. She got out of her seat and rushed towards them. Coran follow her.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered.

“We lost Keith,” Lance admitted, staring at the floor.

“This was a trap after all,” she muttered to herself. Lance looked up at her, startled.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Coran reasoned.

“What are you talking abo-,”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a special treat for you! Another challenger for the title of CHAMPIOOOOON!” the announcers voice cut across Lance, booming throughout the arena.

“Oh no,” Allura murmured. Eyes growing wide.

“What? Do you see Keith?” Lance asked turning to look around in the hopes of seeing him.

“Or Pidge?” Hunk added.

“It’s Pidge,” she said, pointing down towards the arena. The boys followed her line of sight. 

Down below Pidge was being dragged into the arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took slightly longer to write because it was frustrating! 
> 
> Thank you for all the support <3


	5. The Arena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Shiro!!!  
> The team try to think of a plan whilst Keith get's a surprise visit.

Pidge fought against her captures, twisting and turning, kicking and screaming, but all to no avail. The men, twice her size, dragged her into the arena, practically carrying her.

At the other end of the gruesome stage was Shiro. He stood covered in blood, sword in hand, eyes transfixed on them.

“Our new challenger may be little but they pack a punch! And the exciting part? They’re the same race as the Champion!” the announcers voice reverberated across the arena, delight dancing in his voice.

Shiro moved forward, eyes growing wide. The guards dropped Pidge and quickly backed away to the safety of the arena tunnels.

“The Champion looks eager! Better place your bets quickly people! Things are about to get bloody!”

Shiro’s pace quickened, his face contorting into a look of rage. Pidge’s breath caught in her throat, and she took a few quick steps back. In response Shiro moved faster, his feet hitting the floor with amazing force, he was practically at a run.

Pidge raised her arms in defence, heart hammering in her chest. She was sure he was going to kill her.

“Matt!” Shiro screamed. Pidge lowered her arms, now unsure of what to do, he was almost within reaching distance. Shiro and Matt had been friends, they wouldn’t hurt each other, but the look on his face made Pidge second guess that knowledge. Pidge’s indecision allowed Shiro to act first.

He grabbed Pidges arm with his free hand, “Matt! What are you doing here-,” his voice died as he got a closer look at her. The rage slipped from his face and turned to confusion.

“You’re not...”

Pidge tried to pull away from him, but his grip tightened and he pulled her closer.

“M-matt is my brother,” Pidge gaped out. Neither of them moved as Shiro studied her face. Anticipation hung in the air, the audience seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for something. 

“Katie?” he said, loosening his grip in her arm, “what happened? Why are you here?”

Concern spread across his features as he stepped back, dropping his sword. 

Pidge began to speak, “it’s a long story but we came here to-,”

“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” The audience started to chant.

Shiro’s head snapped up, but Pidge kept her eyes on him.

“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” The chanting grew louder.

The cameras scanned the audience and then zoomed in on Pidge and Shiro. Shiro grit his teeth and glanced back to Pidge. Pidge drew back, heart going wild again. Fear painted clear across her face. Then something seemed to snap inside of Shiro.

“NO!” he roared.

Silence.

A few members of the crowd began to boo.

“NO!” Shiro screamed even louder, “I will not murder a child in cold blood and let you call it entertainment.”

The silence lasted longer this time. Then the whispering began. People shifted uncomfortably in their seats, but no one jeered. 

Gladiators had refused to fight before, but never the Champion, he was a bloodthirsty monster.

“I feel I should remind the Champion that no match can end until one of the contestants is dead… or at least unable to fight,” the announcer said, sounding annoyed.

Shiro turned to look at box situated above the crowd, where the announcer sat.

“You’ve had me beaten, forced me to hurt, to-,” Shiro’s voice cracked slightly, “to kill poeple, but this, this I’ll die before I do it.”

There was a pause.

“That seems to be the only way to end this,” the announcer said bitterly.

The crowd exploded, shouting in disagreement. The announcer tried to say something, but it was drowned out by the roar of the crowd. The shouting escalated.  
Guards began to emerge from the arena tunnel, their weapon trained on Shiro and Pidge.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the dark cell Keith had been thrown into he could hear the shouting of the crowd. He couldn’t make out words, but it sounded like something had happened to excite them.

Keith shivered, Shiro had probably killed his opponent. They loved it when that happened, but Shiro always returned with a glazed look in his eyes, like he wasn’t really there.

Keith took a shaky breath and pull his knees up to his chin. He had failed. Now Shiro was suffering again, because of him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to imagine how Shiro was felt, but the only other thing he could think of was how he was feeling, which was betrayed. The moment things had gone wrong the others had stood back and watched.

Keith wandered if Allura had really planned to cut the power. Had she intended to hand him back to the Galra? What about Lance and Hunk? Lance acted like an idiot, but he’d always defended Keith. Why hadn’t they helped him this time?

Tears prickled at the edge of his eyes. He felt helpless. Useless. He’d squandered Shiro’s sacrifice.

Without warning the cell door opened. A large, dark figure stood in the doorway, blocking out the light, clearly not a guard.

“Crying? the shadow said, condescending, as it stepped into the cell, “you’re a Galra, act it.”

Keith quickly rubbed his eyes, trying to wipe away the evidence. Then he froze, he was still in his human form, how did they know he had Galra blood. He stared up at the figure as the light filtered around him, making him visible.

“Zarkon,” he whispered.

The emperor chuckled.

“It’s been awhile nephew.”

“How- How did you know it was me? Why are you even here?” Keith gaped, utterly confused. Zarkon looked amused at his response.

“I knew you would come back for the Champion. I had the guards capture and report to me about anyone suspicious. I knew it was you instantly, you really do resemble you mother,” the last word came out as a sneer. Keith flushed with rage.

“Don’t you dare talk about her, you monster.”

Zarkon considered him, seeming more amused by his rage than anything else.

“Why don’t we move the conversation on then. I watched all the footage of your escapade here. After your capture your companions went running back to someone very interesting,” Keith took in a sharp breath as Zarkon stepped closer, “the Altean princess, tell me about her.”

“There’s nothing to tell. We just met,” Keith replied immediately, fearing the direction of the conversation.

“But she still has Voltron?” 

Keith bit his tongue, unsure of what to say.

“So she does,” Zarkon smiled broadly, “in that case I have a proposition for you, nephew.”

Keith suddenly looked confused, he had been expecting some kind of punishment.

“I want the lions,” Zarkon continued, “you give me Voltron, and I’ll give you the Champion.”

A small spark lit up in Keith’s eyes.

“I- They don’t have all the lions,” he replied, sounding almost ashamed.

“I know, they lack the red lion, because I have it.”

“How?” Keith whispered in shock.

“How doesn’t matter. You will take the red lion, pretend you escaped, and return to their base. Having all the lions will unlock the black lion. My forces will follow you and attack, when they go to form Voltron you take the red lion and bring it to me instead.”

“No! I won’t,” Keith spat back. His heart hammered in his chest anticipating some kind of pain. It would not be the first time his uncle had struck him. To Keith’s surprise Zarkon did not look angry, instead he smiled at him.

“Then I will have the Champion executed right now in the arena.”

Keith’s breath caught in his throat.

“They abandoned you, let you get caught, and you’re trying to help them?” Zarkon chuckled, “you really are a fool.”

Zarkon stood and waited.

“If- If I do this Shiro- the Champion- he never has to enter the arena again?”

“Not for as long as he lives.”

“And he’ll be free? No longer a prisoner?”

“You can take him back to his backwater planet,” Zarkon snorted in derision. Keith gulped and made his decision. 

“Okay… where is the red lion?”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We have to do something!” Lance yelled to Allura. They were all still in the stands. The sound of the crowd was deafening; they hardly hear each other. Allura scanned the arena looking for something they could use. There was nothing. Everyone’s attention was on Pidge and Shiro, there was no way to get them out without fighting every Galra guard here.

“Couldn’t we get the crowd to help us?” Hunk yelled, hopeful. Allura considered it. On the surface it seemed like a good idea, but there was a massive difference between protesting against the killing of your favourite gladiator, and rising up in a riot too free him. 

She shook her head; they would have to think of something else. Hunks face fell.

Down below, in the arena, guards were trying grab Pidge and Shiro. One guard reach out a hand to grab Pidges arm. Shiro slammed into the guard, knocking him into the ground and tearing him away from Pidge.

Pidge turned to run and found herself face to face with another guard. He raised the butt of his gun to strike her and she tensed ready to dodge when a black figure jumped past her and collided with the guard. Shiro punched the guard as they fell and rolled off him and onto his feet the moment they hit the floor.

More guards emerged from the tunnels, twice as many as the first time.

Suddenly there was deafening roar, a lion’s roar. The crowd stopped shouting, and the guards froze. The wall at the back of audience stands burst apart, a red lion’s head stuck through it. The mouth opened.

“Get in!”

There was stunned silence, no one knew how to react. Allura moved first, she ran straight for the lion. Coran followed after her but Hunk and Lance hesitated, looking back at Pidge and Shiro. They were surrounded by close to 30 guards.

Allura had reached the lions mouth. She turned back to check on the others.

“Come on, hurry! We can’t help them.”

Keith’s voice rang out again, “Get in! We don’t have much time!”

Reluctantly Lance to the lion and Hunk went after him.

Behind them Shiro was slowly being overpowered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this chapter more than the last one. It was fun to write!  
> Lots more spacedad from now on :D


	6. Loyalty Vs Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge is going to be referred to as Katie when it's just Shiro and her. Hope that's okay :)

Shiro fought as hard as he could. The guards kept coming, one after another, to take him, to take Katie. He couldn’t let that happen.

When he had first seen her, on the other side of the arena, he had thought she was Matt. That had caused a strange kind of rage to fill him. The thought that everything he’d gone through, what he’d done to keep Matt out of the arena, was all for nothing, it had made him angry, furious. He’d wanted to demand why Matt was there, to shake some sense into him, to force him to leave. It hadn’t even been Matt, and if it had, it wouldn’t have been his fault he was there.  
Instead it had been Katie, Matt’s sister. They looked so alike. She was a younger, and shorter, but everything else was a mirror image. Shiro had seen pictures of her, both the Holts had shown him, many, many times. They had loved her, did love her, very dearly. Captain Holt was sure she would grow up to be someone amazing. Now here she was, younger than Matt on the Kerberos mission, and in space. They would be proud of her, terrified, but proud of her.

Shiro wondered how she had even gotten here. He wasn’t sure where ‘here’ was, but he knew it was very far from home. A lot further than Kerberos. 

He saw them take down Katie. She didn’t make it easy, she was a lot stronger than he had expected, but she was against trained soldiers.

She had just taken down one guard when she was hit from behind by a blaster. She let out a cry and fell forwards, dropping to her knees. Shiro remembered screaming something, it might have been her name, and trying to run to her. He had been slowed down by one guard trying to tackle him, but he’d kept moving, the man still attached. A second guard copied the first, bringing him to a snail’s pace. The third one was what bought him to his knees. He’d been facing Katie then. They’d looked at each other. He could see a group of guards coming up behind her. She’d looked scared and in pain. He’d reached for her. Then a fourth guard tackled him, bringing him to the floor. They’d held his head down, pressing it into the dirt. After that he hadn’t seen what had happened.

Now they were both in the same cell. Shiro lay on the floor, Katie knelt next to him.

“Are you okay?” Katie asked. She was covered in bruises, there was one nasty one on her cheek, the size of a large fist.

“I’ve been through worse,” Shiro tried to laugh, this made Katie furrow her brow.

“I’ll take that as a no,” she sounded equal parts annoyed and worried.

He smiled weakly at her, “yeah, I guess that’s a no.”

“I know some first aid,” she glanced around the room, “but there’s nothing in here to use…”

“Don’t worry, they won’t let me die,” Shiro hoped that was true. They always bought him back from the brink of death. He hoped this time wouldn’t be any different. He felt battered and bruised, but not like he was dying. Unfortunately, he knew exactly what that felt like. Although, he couldn’t be sure what his internal injuries were, and it was getting worryingly painful to breath.

“You’re in pain,” Katie’s face scrunched up, “there has to be something I can do. I’ll tell the guards; someone has to listen.” She stared to get up.

Shiro grabbed her wrist, “I’ve tried before, they don’t care,” the look on Katie’s face gave Shiro a pang of guilt, “but you could try distracting me, to get my mind of the pain.”

Pidge nodded and moved her free hand onto the hand he was holding her with. He let go of her and she gripped his hand tighter.

“Yeah, I- I can do that.”

“Tell me about yourself. How did you get here?”

They talked, Katie told him every she could about what had happened after the Kerberos mission. How they’d blamed their disappearance on a crash, and blamed that crash on him. How she’d been sure it was a lie and snuck into the garrison. How her and her friends had met Keith. He’d smiled at that part; glad Keith was okay. How they’d gone into space, met Allura, and become the Paladins of Voltron.

She was explaining how they’d decided to come and rescue him when the cell door opened. Two guards and one druid stood on the other side. Shiro couldn’t stop himself from smiling, they weren’t going to let him die after all. The pain in his chest had been slowly getting worse.

“Step away from the Champion,” the druid said. 

Katie complied and the two guards stepped forward. They stepped past Shiro and grabbed Katie. Shiro tried to get up off the floor, but his body wouldn’t listen to him.

“Don’t struggle and we won’t hurt you,” the druid spoke, again.

“What about Shiro?” Katie asked. The druid quirked an eyebrow.

“Who?”

“Sh- the Champion,” she clarified. The druid gave Shiro one long disdaining look.

“We’ll deal with him after we’re done with you.”

Katie nodded as if satisfied by the answer.

“Katie, no! Don’t go with them!” Shiro tried to yell, but it felt like he couldn’t get enough air in his lungs to yell.

The guards pulled Katie out the cell, she made no moves to fight against them, and the door slammed behind her. Shiro stared at the door in horror, he had no idea what the druid would want with her, but what the druids wanted was never good.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The lion flew through space, Keith at the helm. Behind him Allura, Coran, Hunk, and Lance stood in silence. When they had initially boarded the lion Allura and Lance had fought about whether to go back for Pidge and Shiro. Allura had won, and now they were running away. Coran was the one to break the silence.

“Well I think it’s about time for a new plan, don’t you?” he wasn’t talking to anyone in particular.

Allura cleared her throat and spoke, “yes, I think we went about this wrong. We should have started with Voltron.”

“Allura’s right,” Keith agreed.

Everyone started at him in surprise, even Allura.

“If we want to save anyone we need Voltron. What we lacked on this mission was firepower. We only got out of there because I managed to find the red lion,” he added.

“Yes, Keith’s right, what we need to do now is to find new paladins,” Allura said, smiling slightly at him.

“No,” he replied, firmly.

“What?” Allura looked shocked. Keith stared stubbornly at her reflection in the glass.

“We need five people; we have five people. We form Voltron and come back to free Pidge and Shiro.”

“It is not that easy. The quintessence of each of the pilots must match the lion,” Allura tried to argue but it sounded weak.

“We’ve already seen Hunk and Lance fit the blue and yellow lions. I can clearly pilot the red lion. All we need is the green and black lions. Coran can pilot the green lion, he fixes everything in the castle, so he’s clearly smart, he must have an inquisitive mind,” Coran grinned at that, “Princess, you’re a princess, born to be a queen, there’s no one more ‘born to be a leader’ than you are.”

“That- The black lion has never responded to me before,” Allura replied. Lance turned to her, fire in his eyes.

“You’ve been bossing us about since we got here! Try again!” 

“I’m with Keith and Lance on this one. It’s worth a try,” Hunk agreed, “and we have to get Pidge back, quickly.”

Allura turned to Coran for some support.

“It couldn’t hurt to try.”

Allura sighed, “alright, we’ll try Keith’s plan.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They landed in the castle of lions and everyone stepped out the red lion. Allura and Coran went off to prepare to free the black lion. This left Keith, Hunk, and Lance alone together.

Keith stood staring up at the red lion, thinking about what he had to do too free Shiro.

“Sorry.”

Keith was startled out of his thoughts. He turned to see who had spoken. Lance started back at him.

“We left you back there. We shouldn’t have,” Lances eyes shinned brightly, like he was holding back tears, “but there was nothing we could do! We were all outnumbered!”

“It’s fine,” Keith replied curtly.

“No it’s not! We’re sorry, and what we did wasn’t okay,” Lance looked even more miserable than before.

“It’s fine, really, I forgive you,” Keith turned away from them, towards the door. He felt his fists clench involuntarily.

“No, no you don’t,” Lance said, he sounded desperate. For what, Keith wasn’t sure.

“Keith we really are sorry,” Hunk said. He sounded regretful too.

“I said it was fine,” Keith snapped. He couldn’t look back at them. They were both silent as he walked away. He couldn’t forgive them; he wouldn’t let himself. If he did it would make what he was going to do so much harder.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the control room Allura and Coran were also arguing.

“Why did you side with them?” Allura accused, she was frustrated, angry. She felt like she was losing Coran, and she couldn’t let that happen.

“They were right, princess,” Coran replied, sounding guilty. Allura threw her hands into the air.

“You want to form Voltron with a Galra at the head of the red lion?!”

“It’s not the first time a Galra has piloted a lion of Voltron,” Coran reminded her.

“Yes, and look how that turned out!” She spat back. There was a bitterness in her voice, but it wasn’t directed at Coran. He frowned at her, a soft sort of sadness in his eyes. Allura ignored it. 

“Keith bought us the red lion,” he continued to reason with her.

“And how did he get it? He gets captured and then suddenly shows up with the red lion.” She snapped, but the edge was gone from her voice.

“He used it to save us. If he was going to betray us, why not inform the Galra about us and let them capture us in the arena?”

Allura had been thinking about that, a lot.

“I’m not sure yet,” then she sighed, “perhaps you’re right Coran… I may have jumped to conclusions about Keith, but you have to admit his sudden escape is suspicious.”

Coran smiled at her, glad she was finally thinking with her head and not her heart.

“You’re right, but he’s done nothing but help us. Let his actions speak for him, not his blood.”

She stared at him for a moment. She felt tired. Ten thousand years of sleep and she still felt tired.

“Alright,” she whispered, resigned, “for now, we’ll trust him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, sorry for the wait! I've had a lot of work to do. Next chapter shouldn't take so long! Hope you enjoyed it!


	7. The Battle Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge has a nasty meeting and the fight against Zarkon begins!

Pidge followed the druid, guards flanking her either side. As they walked she surveyed her surroundings, but learnt very little apart from the fact that Zarkon had terrible taste in interior design. It seemed like the corridors were designed to look identical and ominous, or maybe Zarkon didn't know how else to make them look creepy. The druid and her guards were silent, Pidge didn’t see any point in asking them questions, she’d find out where she was going soon enough.

The corridors began to get bigger, looking like knock off versions of the smaller prison passages. A large door loomed on their right, looking out of place. The druid stopped in front of it. The guards poked at Pidge with their guns until she moved into position behind the druid, who was now facing the door.

After a moment of silence, the door creaked open to reveal a lavish room. It was large, and long. At the end of it was a podium with an ornate chair situated upon it. The chair was empty. To Pidges left was a wall made entirely of some sort of glass. Likely to an alien variant of the quartz glass used on earth spaceships. 

The view through it was stunning. Space, foreign planet so close. In front of the window-wall stood a tall figure. He wore a purple suit with a full length cape. 

“We have bought the small one, as you instructed,” the druid spoke, bowing their head. The figure by the window did not reply. Instead the druid beckoned the guards to bring Pidge forward. They pushed her past the druid and towards the large figure.

The cape clad alien raised a hand and everyone froze. He inclined a finger to point to the space next to his. The guards pushed Pidge to where he had pointed and took a few steps back. Still no one spoke. Pidge surveyed the alien beside her, he was a darker purple than his suit and had a large scar down the left side of his face. He didn’t bother to look at her.

“Do you know who I am?” the figure asked. He still didn’t look at Pidge

“No,” she replied. A grin spread across the alien’s face. He finally glanced down towards her, but didn’t move his body. This made Pidge feel uncomfortable, like there was some kind of joke she wasn’t in on.

“Do you recognise where we are?” the alien asked. Pidge hasn’t been expecting that question, she had been concentrating on figure next to her rather than scenery in front of them. She turned to survey what was in front of her. After a moment of looking, her eyes went wide. Outside was planet Arus.

“Oh no,” she whispered. The alien beside her let out a deep chuckle.

“Oh yes,” he replied. Pidge spun to face him. He had turned to face her as well.

“How?” she demanded. The alien continued to grin at her.

“I did not become the emperor of the universe by revealing my methods to my enemies,” he stated. Pidge’s mouth suddenly went dry, she felt like she couldn’t get any words out as she realised who she was talking to. Zarkon stared at her, seeming to enjoy her discomfort, before he continued.

“I have bought you here to serve in me in a specific task.”

“I will never help you,” Pidge spat, finding her voice in her anger. Zarkon chuckled again.

“How clichéd, but you must realise, I do not ask anything of anyone. I command,” he turned away from Pidge to address the druid, “make the call.”

Zarkon turned back to Pidge and made another hand movement that the guards seemed to understand. Pidge was pushed to her knees.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A shrill ringing sounded out through the control room of the castle of lions. Allura’s head snapped up from the castle diagnostic screens she had been looking at. The sound signified a call, but after 10,000 years she could not think of anyone who would call then. 

Despite not having accepted the call Allura moved cautiously towards the main control panel where she could choose whether she wished to speak to caller.

The door the control room opened. Allura turned to the intrusion, taking a battle stance. Coran entered the room, and Allura relaxed.

“Princess, who?” He asked.

“I do not know,” she shook her head as she spoke. She turned back to the control panel, straightened out her clothes, and stood tall. Coran slotted into place beside her, making sure to be a few steps back so that the callers could see who was in command. Allura gave the accept button a light tap, and the screen before them lit up.

They both caught their breath as Zarkon’s face filled the screen.

“Princess, it’s been too long,” Zarkon mocked. Allura did her best to keep her face neutral.

“Zarkon, to what do we owe the pleasure of this call?”

“As diplomatic as ever, even to your enemies, but I prefer to get straight to the point,” suddenly the camera zoomed out to show Zarkon’s full figure, and the creatures next to him, “I believe I have something of yours.”

He swept his hand towards the figure in green, next to him, on their knees. Pidge stared up at the camera looking as surprised as Allure felt.

“What makes you think they’re mine?” Allura asked, a lump forming in her throat as she spoke. Zarkon glared in response.

“I do not have time for your petty lies,” he growled out, “I will offer a trade. I will return the ugly creature and you will give me back the red lion.”

Allura paused, Keith had taken the red lion, how did he know she had it? Had there been security tapes? If so, how had he seen them and gotten here so fast?

“I do not have the red lion,” she lied, hoping to gauge how much he truly knew and how much he was guessing. Zarkon’s glare turned to a look of boredom. 

“Do not make me repeat myself,” he stated simply, and waited for her response. Allura steeled herself and spoke in her most reasonable voice.

“I do not wish to repeat myself either, but one of us must be reasonable. I do not have the red lion.”

“You are as insufferable as your father. I will give you one Arus day to consider my proposition. If you decide you don’t want the runt,” Zarkon’s face broke into a smile, “well I’m sure my druids will enjoy some new experimentation material.”

The moment he finished his sentence he ended the call. Allura and Coran were left staring at a black screen. They could see their reflections in it, and for a moment Allura thought how small they looked. 

“Princess, what are we going to do?” Coran asked. Allura glanced at him and then back at the screen. Instead of answering him she asked a question of her own.

“Why do you think he called?”

Coran looked at her, startled.

“What do you mean? He wanted to trade Pidge for the red lion.”

“But why? Why not ask for all of Voltron? Why not make a surprise attack and take Voltron? He was an army made up of most of the universe at his disposal.”

Coran paused to consider her queries.

“I’m not sure.”

“He has some kind of plan, and it does not involve trading Pidge. Call the other Paladins here while I run a scan to see what their numbers are.”

“Yes princess,” Coran turned to the door, just before he reached it he turned back, “what should I tell the others about Pidge?”

Allura bit her lip, if they knew about the offer they might want to go through with the trade.

“Tell them Zarkon has them… and nothing else.” 

Coran nodded and walked out.

While she waited for his return she did a quick scan of the area the ship told her that the call had come from. The results made her furrow her brow. They showed two large battleships and the gladiator ship that they had escaped from. She couldn’t believe that was all Zarkon had bought with him, he knew of Voltron's power and the weapon would make short work of the two ships. This had to be a trap.

The main door to the control room opened and Lance came running in. He was flustered and excited. 

“Is Pidge okay?”

Allura couldn’t stop a small smile from gracing her lips, Lance was always so worried about the other Paladins, it was heart-warming.

“At the moment, yes, but Zarkon cannot be trusted and we must act quickly.”

“What do we need to do?” Lance asked. Allura opened her mouth to reply, but a different voice spoke first.

“Form Voltron,” Keith stood behind Lance, leaning again the wall by the door. His face was a mask that Allura couldn’t read.

“Yes,” Allura confirmed, “we will follow Keith’s advice and form Voltron.” A small voice in her mind added ‘if we can.’

Further down the corridor Allura could see Hunk and Coran walking together, towards them. Allura's smile grew as they entered the room.

“Now that we are all here we need to set out a battle plan,” she pressed a few buttons and the scan of Zarkon’s forces appeared on the screen, “this is what we know of his forces.”

“Can we beat that?” Lance asked.

“Easily,” Keith snorted. Allura interjected before the two of them started fighting.

“But that’s what we should be weary of, Zarkon may have laid a trap for us.”

“And we’re going to walk right into it?” Hunk suddenly looked alarmed.

“Our only other choice would be to wait for him to attack us, and the more time we give him the more troops he can amass.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Keith asked as he pushed himself off the wall.

“Wait,” Allura said and Keith paused, “we can only destroy the two battleships. According to the castles scan Pidge is on the third ship.”

“Fine. Got it. Let’s go,” Keith muttered before turning to leave. The others looked at Allura for confirmation. She sighed and nodded.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keith was in his lion. Allura’s plan didn’t matter, he knew what he had to do. Through the intercom he could here Allura giving orders.

“Okay, everyone, once we get out there we need to get in formation and head out to the Galra. I know we haven’t had time for training but hopefully once the Galra start firing our survival instincts should kick in and we’ll form Voltron.”

There was a small squeak of alarm that definitely didn’t come from Allura.

“Once they start firing-,” Hunk started.

“Coran, did the green lion accept you?” Allura interrupted.

“That’s an affirmative princess, we are hunky-dory and ready to go.”

“Can we go back to the part where they start firing at us before we form Voltro-,”

“GO!” Allura yelled, cutting Hunk off again. The Paladins shot out of the landing bay, Hunk followed shortly after them.

“Uh, like I was saying-,”

“Hunk, I understand your reservation about this mission, but we don’t have time to form a better plan. Now is not the time for this.”

“Oh, right, sorry princess,” Hunk sounded a little dejected.

“That’s alright, now let’s form up,” her voice was softer this time, perhaps she felt a little bad about snapping at Hunk.

They settled into a V formation as they flew. Keith could feel his heart in his throat as he flew. The Galra ships appeared as dots on the horizon. His palms began to sweat. He closed his eyes and told himself to focus, focus. He was doing this for Shiro.

“Hey, Keith, buddy?”

Keith's eyes flew open. Lance stared back at him, face displayed on a private chat screen in front of him, meaning that, temporarily, the others couldn’t hear them.

“You okay?” Lance inquired, he sounded apprehensive. Keith swallowed thickly before replying.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just- just getting my head in gear. For the fight.”

“Oh, right,” Lance didn’t sound convinced, “well, I just wanted you to know that I’ve got you back.”

Keith shifted uncomfortably in his seat before speaking.

“Right.”

“I mean it. This time,” Lance took a deep breath, “this time no one’s getting left behind. Especially not you.”

Keith looked down, he couldn’t meet Lances eyes. Not now, not with what he was about to do.

“Thanks,” he mumbled.

“You definitely okay-,” Lance started, but Keith slammed his finger on the end call button, and he was cut off. Keith hoped that would annoy him enough to stop him from calling back, or worrying.

He raised his eyes to where Lances face had been, instead there was black space, and the approaching Galra fleet. He wondered, for a moment, how Zarkon planned to get the other lions. Three ships were no match for four lions. Voltron could definitely defeat him. Keith’s mind flashed back to Lances face, the concern on it when he’d called. The image filled him with guilty, could he betray them when they had a chance of defeating Zarkon? Like this they could win, get Shiro and Pidge back.

Allura’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Get ready everyone. Start with the ship on the right, it’s the one closest to us.”

Keith’s heart hammered. He scanned the area, looking for something, any sign of a trap. Maybe Keith was meant to be Zarkon’s trap. If he defected to Voltron now he could destroy all of Zarkon’s plans, he could destroy Zarkon himself. He knew he had to make his decision now, Allura was putting her lion into a dive, heading towards the first battleship. He gritted his teeth, gripped the controls hard, took one final look around, and made his decision.

“Fuck it,” he yelled, and dove after Allura.

The blasters on the battleship swiveled towards the lions. They fired, scattering the lions as they each dodged in different directions. One of the blasters kept itself trained on Keith, firing as quickly as it could manage. Keith kept dodging right, swinging around until he was at the front of the ship.

What he saw there was his first indication that something was wrong. The whole top half of the front was see through, like glass. He could see the entire main command in there. No battleship he’d ever seen had looked like that. A quick scan of the control room told him that Zarkon wasn’t in there, but someone else was, someone he knew well.

His whole body tensed, his lion stilled. Inside the ship, strapped to the command chair, was Shiro.

The battleship shook as an explosion rocked part of its back end. Keith’s snapped out of his daze and opened his mouth to shout a warning to the others.

“Wait! Stop!”

He could see Lance and Hunk’s lions pull away from the battleship.

“What’s wrong?” Lances voice came through the intercom.

“Reinforcements!” Hunk yelled, beating him to the reply. Keith turned his lion around, looking for the other ships. Behind them hundreds of tiny fighter ships sat poised to attack.

“How? I thought you did a scan?” It was Lance again.

Keith could hear Allura giving some kind of explanation, but Keith knew how. They were all stealth ships. Incredibly fast, and probably hidden in the next solar system. A basic scan wouldn’t have picked them up. Alone they couldn’t do much damage, but a hundred? They were in trouble, and now they had a battleship they couldn’t destroy, not without killing Shiro. ‘Fuck it’ wasn’t an option anymore. Zarkon would win this fight, and Keith would help him do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said that this chapter wouldn't take as long to come out but I lied :X  
> As an apology I made it longer.  
> Hope you enjoyed it!!!


End file.
